


Shorty

by ZaynCentric



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Gen, Sadly, Zayn-centric, and like to tease him, and zayn's short, but it's cute, short zayn, the boys are jerks, they aren't dating, zayn centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-02-27
Packaged: 2018-01-13 22:10:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1242424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZaynCentric/pseuds/ZaynCentric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically a drabble on short!zayn</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shorty

Zayn is short.

It’s a plain and simple fact, anybody with eyes could see this. He was just 5’2, or that’s what he was the last time he checked a few months ago. He got it from his mother’s side of the family, where his ancestors must have been cursed by some pissed off witch to be incredibly short for generations and generations to come. Of course his sister’s genes didn’t seem to get the memo and they all were growing to be pretty tall thanks to his father. However, he was stuck with being the small one, despite being older than two of his sisters.

It wasn’t like he was insecure about his height, people found him more approachable (Ant had pointed out that they just found Zayn adorable which got him a sharp kick to the groin). However, he did hate the jokes and the teasing. Being called ‘Shorty’ or ‘small stuff’ wasn’t something he really appreciated. So becoming famous didn’t exactly help, especially since all of his bandmates happened to be giants or whatever.

It wasn’t as noticeable at first because none of them had actually hit puberty yet. Zayn was still the shortest but it wasn’t too bad. Then of course Harry and Liam decided to be twats and grow until Zayn’s head barely reached their shoulders. When he thought it couldn’t get any worse, Louis and Niall finally grew in height until all four boys were skyscrapers compared to Zayn. So here he was, stuck in the same situation he’s lived through for most of his life. 

xxx

“Do you need help?” Zayn turned around at the voice, shaking his head at Harry’s offer. They were currently in Louis’ home in Doncaster since his mother insisted that they come over. Louis was gloating about his abundance of food and assured them to grab whatever they want to eat whenever. The boys were with Louis’ family in the family room, playing a Disney movie marathon since Liam and Lottie insisted. 

“What are you trying to get?”

“Louis said the cookies were in the top cupboard.” Zayn explained as he looked back up to the shelf that held the snacks. Even with his hands stretched far and raised on his tippy toes he was still a few inches short. In all fairness, the cupboard was unusually high up (well that was Zayn’s argument at least). 

Harry shrugged his shoulders and tried to open the cupboard until Zayn pushed him away. The younger boy pouted down at Zayn questioningly. “I can do it myself.” Zayn said stubbornly, going back to trying to get to the cupboard on his own. The curly boy rolled his eyes and grabbed Zayn tightly by the waist, easily lifting him off of the ground. Zayn squealed (I don’t squeal, Zayn would argue) and placed his hands over Harry’s poking at them.

“C’mon, just get the cookies already, I’m starving.” Zayn was already a blushing mess and he wanted to be put down so he obeyed, opening the cupboard and grabbing the Oreos. Harry put him down gently when he saw Zayn holding the snack, taking them away from Zayn with a smirk and running off to the living room.

Zayn stayed back until he was sure his face wasn’t bright red anymore, ending up having to watch the movie on Niall’s lap to make room for everyone else.

xxx

It was all Louis’ fault.

It was his bright idea to play hide and seek at the photo shoot since they were allowed an hour break for lunch. The studio was fairly large with several props that were going to be used for the magazine cover. Most of the props were really just furniture items, one that included a wardrobe. When Harry was counting to twenty (because he was too slow and forgot to say not it) Liam had told him that a good place was on top of the wardrobe. So Liam practically threw him up there and now Zayn was stuck.

Totally Louis’ fault.

Harry had already found Niall behind the couch and Louis under the bed so the three of them were searching for Liam and himself. The amount of times that Louis had walked by without noticing him made him laugh. However, the joke really was on him since he was stuck there until someone helped him.

“Found you!” He heard Harry cheer as he yanked Liam out from behind one of the curtains placed in front of the fake window. Niall was laughing along with Harry until he noticed that it was only the four of them. He looked around before turning to Louis with a worried expression.

“Where’s Zayn?” Liam looked over to Niall when he heard him.

“You guys haven’t found him yet?” Harry shook his head, already concerned for his missing bandmate. They had already checked in the wardrobe, the bed, basically everything you could use for a hiding spot. Liam pointed to the wardrobe, the other three following his gaze.

“Zayn you win, c’mon down.” The other three smiled when they saw Zayn’s head pop up, Niall waving like an idiot. “How’d you get up there anyways?”

“Liam helped me up.” Zayn explained but not moving to get off. The ground was further than he had anticipated and there was no way he was going down. He’d just have to wait until somebody brought a ladder or something because he wasn’t going to jump down. Knowing his luck he’d probably break his ankle.

“Can you get down?” Louis asked with a smirk; he was the worst when it came to teasing Zayn. He loved to remind Zayn on a daily basis on his height difference. He, for some reason, found it fun to point out the fact that Zayn’s head only reached his shoulder. Louis was a twat.

“Yes I can get down.” Zayn snapped, and sat up on the wardrobe, letting his feet dangle over the side. He looked down at the ground with a frown, but he had to prove his point, right? He took a deep breath before he pushed off of the wardrobe. He realized the moment that he dropped that-wow, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. From the awkward angle he was at he could tell he wasn’t going to land on his feet so he just let gravity work, maybe he’ll manage to walk away with a few bruises. However, he was surprised when he landed in someone’s arms, a grunt escaping that person’s lips. Zayn looked up to see it was Louis, who was glaring down at him.

“What was that?” Zayn blinked before stuttering out an answer, still surprised that he didn’t land on the floor like he had expected. “I-um, I fell?”

“Yeah you fell! You knew you couldn’t get down without help, ask next time. You’ll get hurt if you do things like that.” It was more humiliating that this was Louis, the most immature of them all, scolding him as if he were a child. Zayn blushed and nodded quickly, Louis finally setting him down on the ground before walking away. He looked over to the other boys who had witnessed that and they all shrugged, Niall only a few seconds away from bursting out laughing.

xxx

You can never question Zayn’s love for their fans because he loved them all, without a doubt. They got them to where they were, they helped all five of them achieve their dreams. Without them, they’d just be that group that made it to third place on the X-Factor.

Though he did wonder why they loved to torture him.

The fans were just as bad as Louis, possibly worse. The amount of times Zayn’s seen pictures teasing him about his height made him want to gag. He couldn’t really understand what was so funny, so he was born short, whatever, he preferred fun size anyways. 

They were currently performing in Miami, already half way done with the show. It was time for the Twitter questions and dares, their personal favorite part of their concerts. It was always fun to see what their fans would ask, especially when it was ridiculous so Niall or Louis could act like fools. They had just asked the boys about their favorite childhood moments and the boys all gave their answers, spending a minute to figure out exactly where @zayn_centric was sitting. Once they found the girl and thanked her they moved onto the next one.

@narry_forlyfe12445: Can all of the boys carry Zayn? :) Section B Row 23 Seat 9

Zayn instantly felt his face go bright red-seriously, that was her question? The crowd’s cheers only seemed to grow louder with approval and amusement. The Bradford boy glanced over to the boys to see all four of them smirking (he thought they looked evil personally). He decided that if he could make it far enough backstage, Josh would help defend him against the boys and move on to the next tweet. So he bolted to his right, only four steps into it when he felt an arm wrap around his waist. He felt himself being yanked up and pulled over a shoulder. He could tell that it was Liam and he cursed the younger boy, punching him on the back playfully.

“You can’t run from us Malik!” He heard Niall joke into his microphone, the audience laughing along with him. Zayn grunted, shifting around so he could be more comfortable; it was hard considering his feet were off the ground and Liam’s shoulder was jabbing him in the hip bone. He saw Harry walking over and holding his arms out. Liam had to awkwardly hand Zayn over to Harry, who held him up bridal style since it was easier. Zayn tried not to focus on the crowd of screaming fans nor on the bright flashes of the cameras aimed right at him. He hid his face in Harry’s neck so nobody could see how red he was-this was basically a punch straight to his ego and dignity.

He felt the grip on him loosen as Harry passed him over to Niall, who had a tight grip on him. Niall, being the obnoxious Irish boy that he was, pretended to lift Zayn up and down like a weight. Zayn pushed at his chest but was laughing along with the crowd. He could see Liam and Harry teasing over to his left, mostly for the crowd’s benefit. Soon enough, Zayn felt himself being pulled into Louis’ arms, who mockingly cradled him like a baby. Niall was joining the boys in teasing and Zayn couldn’t stop the bright smile on his face. He started to squirm around in Louis arms until the older boy finally let him down, kissing him cheekily before helping the others find out where the fan was located.

Zayn just stayed where he was, still smiling and laughing because even he could admit that that was kind of funny.

xxx

“And that was One Direction! Thank you boys for coming in!” The radio host smiled at the five boys, four of them returning the gesture. Zayn, however, was far too gone to even notice her. His eyelids were getting heavier by the minute and he had to constantly remind himself to keep his eyes open. It was a horrible idea to stay up late last night but it was an Iron Man marathon. Of course he was going to stay up to watch it all.

He was grateful that this was an audio interview so not many people could see how dead he looked. He was tired from the moment he woke up and he couldn’t wait to go back to their hotel. Harry had to pinch his side a few times since he nearly passed out a few times. The interview was only half an hour though and he usually stayed quiet during these things so his silence didn’t seem odd. At least it was all over now, which he was grateful for.

He stood up from the seat he had been assigned, almost falling back down from exhaustion. He felt an arm go around his waist to support him, looking up at Niall. The blonde boy looked concerned, only letting go when he was sure Zayn could walk on his own. “You alright mate?”

“Yeah just-just tired.” Zayn yawned, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes. Paul was walking around, warning them about the small crowd beginning to form outside. Luckily they’d be in the car by the time a good amount of fans showed up so they wouldn’t be mobbed today. The others were playing around with each other, Liam and Louis fake wrestling and being scolded by Paul. On the lift, Zayn leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and trying to at least get a few seconds of peace.

It didn’t really last long and the doors opened faster than he had appreciated. Paul ushered them all out, Zayn almost tripping from exhaustion. All he could think about was going to sleep on the hotel bed, cuddled up in the blankets and sleeping until next year. He gasped when he felt an arm slip behind his knees and another around his back, easily being lifted off of the ground. He looked up to see Niall carrying him, a smile on his lips. He was going to protest when Niall beat him to it.

“You look like the living dead, Shorty. Just sleep, one of us will probably have to carry you into the hotel anyways.” Zayn hesitated, his instincts telling him to jump out of Niall’s arms. He was twenty one years old, he was more than capable of walking on his own. However, he was getting sleepier by the second and the rhythm of Niall’s steps became began to lull him into sleep. He figured that Niall was just looking out for him so he let his head tuck under Niall’s, closing his eyes and falling into a deep sleep.

He ended up waking up a few hours later in a hotel room, the others either playing Fifa or wrestling on the other bed. His laughter at Louis being shoved off of the bed alerted Liam, who was currently losing badly against Niall. The Wolverhampton boy smiled up at him from the ground, turning back to the game and groaning when Niall scored again. Zayn watched as Harry tried to put Louis into a headlock and Niall give a victory dance at his “amazing Irish skills”. 

So yeah, being famous and unusually short wasn’t exactly the best thing. He got teased for it on a daily basis and often found himself victim to people’s jokes. But he was grateful he had these boys with him to be there every step of the way with him (even if they were all annoying twats who get on his nerves most of the time).


End file.
